Deck
by karinarios
Summary: While waiting for a special girl to turn up, Fuji Shusuke tries to foretell Tezuka Kunimitsu’s love life.
1. First of Three

**Deck **

by beaple leone michaelmas

**Summary: **

While waiting for a special girl to turn up, Fuji Shusuke tries to foretell Tezuka Kunimitsu's love life.

**Deck (First of Three)**

**A/N:**

Okay, okay. I promised myself I'd stop writing fanfiction for the meantime. But! This story! Plot bunny! Jumped into my head! Must… write… before reality comes crashing down on me tomorrow.

Please pardon the improper characterization. I'm not sure I did their personalities justice. Also, about the card reading, I doubt that's how professional fortunetelling is done. But, that's how my friend predicted my future, so… it'll be featured here. ::D

**Disclaimer: **

I do not own _The Prince of Tennis_. The whole concept belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei.

**Deck (First of Three)**

"I still can't believe I managed to drag you here," Fuji Shusuke chuckled good-naturedly, taking a sip out of his porcelain teacup. "You've finally decided to date someone, eh? My cousin, too, no less…"

Tezuka Kunimitsu pushed his glasses higher up his nose, the lenses glinting in the late afternoon sunlight. Saying nothing, he merely picked up his teacup, which was emitting a faint steam, taking a sip from it, his expression unchanging.

Fuji smiled at his friend's lack of reaction.

"Ne, Tezuka, why don't you let me predict your future?" he offered, taking a package out of his jacket's breast pocket. "I can't promise you I'll do it perfectly, though; I only learned the steps last night."

Tezuka's eyebrows rose as his gaze fell on the object in his friend's hand.

"Tarot cards?"

"Yeah, Ayamiko gave them to me as a thank you present," Fuji admitted, oddly apologetic. "For arranging this date, she said."

As he began shuffling the cards in his hand, Fuji stole a glance at Tezuka, who was now looking out the window overlooking a busy downtown thoroughfare, oblivious. Letting his hands move methodically, expertly but mechanically, Fuji let his thoughts wander, far away from the high-end coffee shop where he now sat with his tennis team captain, waiting for his cousin to arrive.

It had been two full weeks since Ayamiko had come from California; for a much-needed vacation, she had explained. Apparently stressed with the competition at the exclusive music school she was attending, she had decided to pay a visit to her relatives in Japan, adjusting easily to a lifestyle she was not accustomed to, even attending classes at Seigaku to "assimilate" better.

It was how she and Tezuka had met. One afternoon, as Ayamiko wandered into the tennis court, looking for her Shu-niichan, she had locked eyes with the boys' tennis team captain. The moment Fuji saw the glazed expression on his cousin's face, the surprised look in Tezuka's eyes, he knew…

It hurt. He didn't want to admit it, but it hurt badly.

He knew harboring secret feelings for Tezuka was not healthy for him; it ruined his concentration, it made him distracted. So Fuji, ever optimistic, turned his cousin's attraction to his advantage. Perhaps if Tezuka and Ayamiko began dating, his subconscious would give up and move on?

Yet the moment he had set this first date for the two of them, he realized he would never be able to move on. He was only torturing himself this way…

"Fuji, you've been shuffling for close to five minutes now."

"Ahhhhh, gomenasai," Fuji answered distractedly, a few cards falling out of the pile and onto the table. "I was running through the process in my head; I can't seem to remember everything…"

Flustering slightly at Tezuka's hawk-like gaze, Fuji forced a smile.

"Well then, I'll explain the procedure to you," he said, putting the cards on a neat stack before Tezuka. "What I'm about to foretell is your future in relation to someone in your life. The first thing you must do is to think of an important person to you right now. Then, knock once on this deck for each letter of that person's name. Go on," he prodded gently, pushing the deck closer to Tezuka.

Hesitating, his lips parted slightly, Tezuka stared at the cards before him for a few moments, apparently lost in thought. Just as Fuji was about to prod him, however, he lifted his left hand and knocked on the pile of tarot cards.

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven… Ayamiko._

"Right," Fuji acknowledged, forcing a smile despite the oppressing, burning sensation steadily building up in his throat. "I'll pretend I don't know whose name you just knocked, so answer me this: What is this person to you right now? A lover? A close friend? A parent? A rival, perhaps…?"

"Just a friend," Tezuka answered in a monotone, pushing his glasses even higher.

Nodding, Fuji began the complicated process of shuffling the cards in order. Mercifully, the task required a high degree of concentration, forcing him to focus and to disregard Tezuka's outright acknowledgement that he was serious about Ayamiko.

Several minutes of confused shuffling and card-picking later, five tarot cards, lying facedown dramatically, were arranged in a row on the table, looking very ominous and forbidding. Feeling excited despite himself, Fuji flipped the leftmost card.

"The Star," Fuji noted, seeing a card with a star hovering above a naked woman, whose left foot was placed firmly on land, her other foot resting on a pond. "What did Ayamiko say about this…?"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, earning him a cold glare from Tezuka. Grinning sheepishly, he checked the list of tarot card interpretations, his eyes landing on the interpretation for The Star.

"_The pool of water refers to the subconscious. The land refers to the material world. She_, the naked woman, I suppose,_ renews both. Usually divined as hope for the future, good things to come regarding the cards close to the star. _That's a good sign, isn't it, Tezuka?" Fuji said, smiling faintly. "That's a good sign, especially for a first date."

Not waiting for his friend's reply – not that one was to be expected – he flipped the rightmost card.

"That's The Moon," Fuji said, recognizing the card with a wolf and a dog howling at a waxing moon. "My guide says… It's a bit long, I see. Well, it says… _Lack of clarity, tension, doubt, fantasy… Confusion, Illusion, Fear, Imagination, Worry… Romanticism, Anxiety, Apprehension, Unrealistic Ideas…"_

Fuji frowned. It wasn't a very good card.

"Maybe this is referring to Ayamiko's imminent return to America," he reasoned. "But I don't see why that should be much of a hindrance. You're not that bothered are you?"

Tezuka merely said nothing, content with sipping out of his teacup.

"Next is… The Fool," Fuji said softly, seeing a card with a young man standing on the precipice of a cliff. "Interpretation is… _that of taking action where the circumstances are unknown, confronting one's fears, taking risks, and so on._"

Fuji smiled, albeit sadly.

_This card should have been named Love._

"What this?" Tezuka asked, eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the card he had flipped, which had the image of a naked man and woman, standing under a winged creature, the sun shining over the scene. "The Lovers?"

"My, that's… lucky," Fuji said, becoming increasingly sad with the good hand his friend had acquired. "It symbolizes _love relationship, union, passion, sexuality," _he colored slightly as he said the last word aloud. Clearing his throat, he added, "_The Lovers also represents raw desire._"

"Fuji, I daresay this is becoming more foolish by the second."

"Hang on, Tezuka, there's just one more card," Fuji chided, flipping the last card, the one in the middle in the row of five, and laying it on the table.

_Death. An armored skeleton riding a horse, surrounded by helpless, dying people of all classes. _

"But that's-"

"Death," Tezuka continued, gazing at the card with an inscrutable expression. Taking the piece of paper from Fuji's frozen hand, he read, "_Ending of a cycle, loss, conclusion, sadness... Being caught up in the inescapable, good-byes, deep change…_"

"Does it mean actual _death_?"

"No," Tezuka replied. "It says here, _it is unlikely that this card actually represents a physical death. Typically, it implies an end, possibly of a relationship or interest, and therefore implies an increased sense of self-awareness. _There's nothing to worry about, Fuji."

Even with these words, Fuji felt the blood drain from his face.

"But Ayamiko-"

"What about me?" said a voice, jerking Fuji and Tezuka back to reality.

**A/N:**

All interpretations care of Wikipedia. I stuck with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Once again, I am _not _a fortuneteller. The methods used here are figments of my warped imagination.

Kindly review? ::D


	2. Second of Three

**Deck **

by beaple leone michaelmas

**Summary: **

While waiting for a special girl to turn up, Fuji Shusuke tries to foretell Tezuka Kunimitsu's love life.

**Deck (Second of Three)**

**A/N:**

Whoa. This is progressing faster than I expected it to. I might finish this trilogy within the day. I ask you, however, to pardon the frenzied writing pace. I reaaaally can't get rid of it.

**Disclaimer: **

I do not own _The Prince of Tennis_. The whole concept belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei.

**Deck (Second of Three)**

"Ayamiko?"

"What's wrong, Shu-niichan?" an extremely pretty girl with cascading, dark brown hair and bright purple eyes asked as she stood before the two boys, a confused expression on her face. "You look worried about something."

"Ahh, no, it's just-"

"Fuji-san," greeted Tezuka, rising from his seat. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, too, Tezuka-san," replied Ayamiko, blushing furiously and bowing deeply. "I'm sorry for making you wait. It seems I underestimated the commute time…"

"We were simply too early," Tezuka countered, ever the gentleman.

"If you say so…"

Fuji Ayamiko noticed her cousin staring up at the two of them, his mouth open in an O of surprise.

"Shu-niichan, what's wrong with you?" she asked, sincerely concerned. "You have this shocked expression on your face, like you've just seen a ghost or something. What happened?"

The older Fuji snapped out of it.

"I-I'm… it's nothing," Fuji assured Ayamiko. "I'm just unaccustomed to seeing you dressed like that…"

_Or acting like that._

As one, the three of them turned their eyes to Ayamiko's emerald green dress, old-fashioned and made of some floaty, flowing fabric. Fingering her dress, the girl sheepishly admittedly, "It's a bit different from my usual shirt and jeans, huh? But I thought, since it _is _my first date, no, _our _first date, it should be extra special…"

As she said this last line, Ayamiko looked away, her face flaming red. Fuji, too, felt uncomfortable looking at his cousin, so he directed his gaze at the city street outside, trying to drown himself in the noise of the crowd, intangible from the confines of the coffee shop.

Tezuka, glasses glinting against the setting sun, cleared his throat.

"We should go now, Fuji-san," he said. "Else, we'll miss the show."

"Right, K-Kunimitsu-kun," Ayamiko stuttered, slightly out of breath. Turning to her cousin, an ecstatic expression on her face, she whispered, "Jaa, Shu-niichan. Thanks again for this," she added, giving Fuji an extra hug.

Awkwardly patting his cousin's back, Fuji once more risked a glance at Tezuka: he was still standing, rigid, unyielding, an aura of austerity enveloping his tall frame. The genius closed his eyes, pain etched on his face.

_So this is goodbye…_

Stealing a final kiss from her cousin's forehead, Ayamiko turned to her date.

"Shall we go then?" she said brightly.

Tezuka Kunimitsu, impassive, nodded, and wordlessly offered his arm. Blushing scarlet once more, Ayamiko took the arm he offered, and immediately fell at ease with his warmth. With one last look, one last nod at his teammate, Tezuka left the room without a backward glance.

As he waved his cousin and his friend away, Fuji chuckled sadly.

"She's gotten refined for this occasion, huh?" he noted to himself, shaking his head as he sat against the backdrop of a downtown Tokyo sunset, drinking the last of his tea.

It tasted oddly bitter, now that he had gone.

"Shu-niichan!" a loud voice called from behind Fuji, just as night had settled in. Turning, he found Ayamiko running towards him, hair in disarray, wearing a sapphire blue silk dress. As she wove her way through an openly staring crowd, Fuji found himself rising to his feet.

"Ayamiko-?"

"I'm sooooooo sorry!" the girl apologized, panting slightly from the effort of running. "I took an afternoon nap and woke up late. Urgh! Yuta didn't even wake me up, the little devil-"

"Wait a minute, you-"

"-tried to get here as soon as I could but the traffic was just _horrible. _Horrible, I tell you-"

"Ayamiko, wait-"

"-is Tezuka-kun? Has he left? _Oh my God. _I don't believe this!"

"Listen!"

At her cousin's panicked yell, Ayamiko clammed up, turning worried purple eyes at Fuji.

"What's wrong, Oniichan?"

"Are you pulling my leg?" Fuji asked, discovering, much to his dismay, that he was on the verge of losing his patience. "You turned up just half an hour ago, dressed in _green_, not blue. And Tezuka left with _you_. _You two _were on the way to the theater, last time I checked."

"Oniichan, I've just arrived, I swear-"

"Don't joke with me, Ayamiko," Fuji warned, placing his hands on his cousin's shoulders. He realized his fortunetelling had affected him profoundly, such that he was now interpreting a harmless prank as a supernatural occurrence. "You were here just a while ago, and you left with Tezuka-"

"I _didn't_, Shu-niichan," his cousin insisted. "I've just arrived. If you want, you can call Yuta and ask him for yourself. I'm telling you the truth-"

"Ayamiko, I'm warning you, I-"

Then it hit him. If Ayamiko was pulling a prank, it had to mean Tezuka was in it with her. And Tezuka, probably having seen how affected Fuji had been because of that _stupid _card, would neverwant to play with his emotions in his current state. With that reasoning, it would appear Ayamiko really did _not _leave with Tezuka…

"So who left with him?" Fuji whispered.

_Could it be… that death pertains not to someone related to Tezuka… but to Tezuka himself?_

"Oniichan, where are you going?!" Ayamiko shouted as her cousin raced past her, running out of the coffee house. Running headlong into the crowd, Fuji dazedly scanned the area, searching for landmarks, before running haphazardly in the direction of the Watanabe Theater. [1]

_Tezuka. Kunimitsu. Please be safe. _

**A/N:**

I'm not sure I'm doing a good job of explaining things. Please PM if confused.

**Revenge of the Footnotes:**

[1] _Watanabe Theater. _Fictional as far as I know.


	3. Final of Three

**Deck **

by beaple leone michaelmas

**Summary: **

While waiting for a special girl to turn up, Fuji Shusuke tries to foretell Tezuka Kunimitsu's love life.

**Deck (Final of Three)**

**A/N:**

Ah. I was trying to study earlier, but I couldn't keep my head off this fic. I had the whole idea in my head already, swirling there with the bits of academic info, and it just wouldn't stay put. Garn. I had to write it out before crunch time comes for my exam.

Also, I made a slight error on _Deck (First of Three)_. Ayamiko, sharing Shusuke's last name, cannot be his mother's sister's daughter. Long story short, I've fixed the glitch by settling with them being 'relatives'. Sorry about that.

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own _The Prince of Tennis_. The whole concept belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei.

**Deck (Final of Three)**

Clutching a stitch at his side, a wide-eyed Fuji Shusuke leaned against the cold metal railing separating the crowded Tokyo sidewalk from the busy intersection before it. The forbidding Watanabe Theater stretched out towards the starless evening sky before him, its marquee proclaiming the title of the musical Tezuka and Ayamiko had come to watch.

Beads of sweat pouring down the sides of his forehead, Fuji scanned the line of theater patrons outside the building, by the side of the road, searching for _his_ warm bronze hair, distinct frame, striking aura…

He saw him standing by the theater entrance, his back turned.

"Tezuka," Fuji exhaled, a wave of relief washing over him as he slowly inched towards the pedestrian lane. "Tezuka Kunimitsu!"

Hearing his name, the Seigaku team captain stiffened and turned, a look of mild surprise forming on his face as he saw who was calling him.

"Fuji?" his lips formed, too far away to be heard.

Ecstatic to see that his friend was all right, the genius practically skipped the rest of the distance to the pedestrian lane, bumping into several passersby but not caring. His lopsided grin, however, turned into an expression of horror as the person standing before Tezuka whirled around, her long, dark hair fanning slightly in the cold, night breeze as she turned to look at her cousin.

With a small smile, she stretched out her pale, white hand.

_Fuji Shusuke_, said a lilting voice in Fuji's head, _I have been waiting for you. _

Her eyes were white. All white.

"Tezuka!" Fuji shouted across the roar of the traffic speeding by him at breakneck speed, earning him the worried glances of the surrounding crowd. "Tezuka, that's _not _Ayamiko! That's NOT her!"

Confused, Tezuka turned to his companion, shocked to see that she was gone. As he frantically searched for her in the crowd gathered in front of the theater, Fuji stood on the other side of the street, watching helplessly, waiting impatiently for the light on the pedestrian lane to go green. Behind him, a crowd was gathering, waiting just as he was, chatting about mundane matters, oblivious to the young man who was rearing to get across the traffic to help his best friend…

Fuji felt someone stand directly behind him.

"Shusuke~"

Holding his breath, Fuji turned around.

How strange that she looked so much like Ayamiko, and yet so different, too. The hair, the face, even the height was identical to his cousin's – everything except for the look on her face. Smiling serenely, the stark whiteness of her eyes magnifying the eeriness that echoed her enigmatic but tranquil expression, the other Ayamiko stretched her hand once more.

"Jaa," she whispered so that only Fuji could hear. "It's time to go."

With astonishingly remarkable force, she pushed him towards the traffic.

XXX

"Ne, Tezuka, why don't you let me predict your future?"

Looking at Fuji Shusuke over the rim of his teacup, Tezuka Kunimitsu gauged his teammate's degree of frivolity. The offer was absurd, definitely, but with Fuji, nothing was too insane to be considered.

"I can't promise you I'll do it perfectly, though," Fuji said sheepishly. "I only learned the steps last night."

Tezuka caught a glimpse of the object in Fuji's hands: what seemed like oversized playing cards embellished with fanciful drawings of celestial bodies.

"Tarot cards?"

"Yeah, Ayamiko gave them to me as a thank you present. For arranging this date, she said."

Stiffening at the statement, Tezuka looked outside as Fuji began shuffling.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, not too cold and not too warm – perfect weather for a date, indeed. Tokyo was packed with thousands of people, swarming about like ants, testing Tezuka's limited patience. Why he had agreed to this ridiculous idea in the first place, he couldn't comprehend. All he knew was that for the past few months he had been feeling things he should _not _be feeling, and Fuji Ayamiko was his way out.

Tezuka closed his eyes, expression pained. He had never planned to use anyone like this; it was wrong, and he was well aware of that fact. But when Fuji pointed out to him that Ayamiko was serious…

The first thing that came to his mind was that if he began to date a girl, perhaps he would stop feeling this way about him.

_Fuji Shusuke_.

Tezuka looked at his friend, who was still shuffling the cards, an inscrutable expression on his face. Brows furrowing as he watched Fuji's slender, elegant fingers move, he once again felt guilty for betraying his friend's trust, not to mention potentially losing his family's respect, and his name's honor. That was why Ayamiko had to be sacrificed… Without her, much worse things could happen.

Much worse things like unrequited affections unacceptable by society's standards.

The impossibly swift movement of Fuji's shuffling caught Tezuka's attention, bringing him crashing back down to earth. Frowning at his friend's apparent lack of focus, he chided, "Fuji, you've been shuffling for close to five minutes now."

The tennis genius looked up, reverie broken, a few cards scattering on the table.

"Ahhhhh, gomenasai. I was running through the process in my head; I can't seem to remember everything…"

As he began to gather the fallen cards, Fuji flashed Tezuka a small smile, reminding Tezuka of his betrayal…

"Well then, I'll explain the procedure to you," he said, putting the cards on a neat stack before Tezuka. "What I'm about to foretell is your future in relation to someone in your life. The first thing you must do is to think of an important person to you right now. Then, knock once on this deck for each letter of that person's name. Go on," he prodded gently, pushing the deck closer to Tezuka.

The latter was thrown mentally off balance. He hadn't expected this. Despite his skepticism, Tezuka found himself wondering who the most important person in his life was right now. Surely, tennis and reaching Nationals was his primary goal, but when asked about a special person…

There was no one. Not even his family, nor his teammates. He felt varying degrees of affection for all of them, but there was no one he thought of or cared for particularly excessively…

Except him.

_No_, he mentally scolded himself. _This is wrong. WRONG. _

He felt his pulse quicken as his left hand rose instinctively.

_But I don't want to lie. He'll never know anyway…_

His knuckles felt the cold, smooth back of the deck.

_He must never know._

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

_Shusuke. _

"Right," Fuji acknowledged, smiling warmly, oblivious to the internal debate his friend had just gone through. "I'll pretend I don't know whose name you just knocked, so answer me this: What is this person to you right now? A lover? A close friend? A parent? A rival, perhaps…?"

Tezuka's gaze fell as his estimate struck gold: Fuji had misinterpreted his actions. Pushing his glasses even higher up his nose, hiding behind glinting lenses the turbulent emotions he feared would show in his eyes, he told himself this was for Fuji's own good.

_It is better off this way_.

"Just a friend."

**A/N:**

Saa, who saw that coming? 0.o

Final notes: 1) Tezuka's opinions are his own - I daresay the world's warmed up to the idea of homo love; 2) The _other _Ayamiko is a _shinigami_ or death god, and it's really her job to "kill" people – at least in other horror stories I've read; and, 3) The name Ayamiko is taken after another fanfic writer in this site, and I just used her name, without her permission (sorry) because it had 7 letters. ::D

**PS:**

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to review this fic so far:

**masi, MoonLuna2009, zenbonzakura**

Once again, thank you very much for your support. ::D This is for you.

Also dedicated to J and T - the former for his fortunetelling skills, the latter for serving as unknowing muse for the twist in this story.


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